WRITE

As an anthropologist, educator, former theme park trainer, and consultant, I have had many opportunities to engage in worlds of writing whose topics have included theme parks, themed spaces, cultural remaking, video games, film remakes, educational theory, gender studies, criminology, among other topics.

This page features much of this work, organized from the top-down with Books, Chapters in Books, Articles, Reviews & Entries, Popular Pieces, Unpublished Drafts, and Bibliographies.

Keep in mind that you may click on an image or a text link to read a pdf version of my writing. I hope you enjoy the topics, themes, and perspectives that I have shared.

Books

Theme Park

Theme parks are a uniquely interactive and enduring form of entertainment that have influenced architecture, technology, and culture in surprising ways for more than a century, as Scott Lukas now reveals in his compelling historical chronicle.

Theme Park (Arabic)

The Arabic translation of Theme Park.

The Immersive Worlds Handbook

Scott Lukas, famed industry expert on designing themed spaces, brings you a book that focuses on the imaginative world of themed, immersive and consumer spaces. Whether or not you are involved in designing a theme park, cultural museum, shop, or other entertainment space, you will benefit from the insider tips, experiences, and techniques highlighted in this practical guide. Make your themed spaces come to life and become true, immersive worlds.

The Themed Space

The Themed Space: Locating Culture, Nation, and Self is the first edited collection focused on the significance of the theme space.

Fear, Cultural Anxiety, and Transformation

This collection was inspired by the observation that film remakes offer us the opportunity to revisit important issues, stories, themes, and topics in a manner that is especially relevant and meaningful to contemporary audiences. Like mythic stories that are told again and again in differing ways, film remakes present us with updated perspectives on timeless ideas.

Recent Developments in Criminological Theory

This volume contains recent and cutting-edge articles from leading criminological theorists. The book is organized into ten sections, each representing the latest in the multi-disciplinary orientations representing a cross-section of contemporary criminological theory. The articles were selected based on their contributions to advancing the field, including ways in which the authors of each chapter understand the current theoretical tendencies of their respective approaches and how they envision the future of their theories.

A Reader in Themed & Immersive Spaces

Since the late 2000s, the themed space has been the subject of widespread analysis and criticism in academic communities as well as a popular source of entertainment for people around the world. This collection in themed and immersive spaces brings together researchers, critics, and design professionals from around the world to consider the many cultural, political, historical, aesthetic, existential, and design contexts of themed and immersive spaces.

Strategies in Teaching Anthropology

CHAPTERS (CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ)

Heritage as Remaking

Heritage as Remaking: Locating Heritage in the Contemporary World. In The Oxford Handbook of Public Heritage Theory and Practice, edited by Neil Asher Silberman and Angela Labrador, Oxford University Press.

The Value of Research

The Value of Research in Themed and Immersive Spaces, CLADBook, 2018. (Coming soon)

Between Simulation and Authenticity

Between Simulation and Authenticity: The Question of Urban Remaking. In Urban Design Companion: A Sequel, edited by Tridib Banerjee and Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Routledge, 2018. (Coming soon)

Why Immersion Matters

Why Immersion Matters. CLADBook, 2017.

The Cultures of Tiki

The Cultures of Tiki. In A Reader in Themed and Immersive Spaces. ETC (Carnegie Mellon University), 2016.

Time and Temporality in the Worlds of Theme Parks

Time and Temporality in the Worlds of Theme Parks. In “Here You Leave Today”: Time and Temporality in Theme Parks, edited by Filippo Carlà, Florian Freitag, Sabrina Mittermeier, and Ariane Schwarz. Hanover: Wehrhahn, 2016.

Introduction

In A Reader in Themed and Immersive Spaces. ETC (Carnegie Mellon University), 2016.

Dark Theming Reconsidered

In A Reader in Themed and Immersive Spaces. ETC (Carnegie Mellon University), 2016.

The Hummer as Cultural and Political Myth

The Hummer as Cultural and Political Myth: A Multi-Sited Ethnographic Analysis. In The Hummer: Myths and Consumer Culture. Elaine Cardenas and Ellen Gorman, eds. Lexington Books, 2007. (Coming soon)

An American Theme Park

An American Theme Park: Working and Riding Out Fear in the Late Twentieth Century. In Late Editions 6, Paranoia within Reason: A Casebook on Conspiracy as Explanation. George E. Marcus, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

The Role of Women’s and Gender Studies in Advancing Gender Equity

The Role of Women’s and Gender Studies in Advancing Gender Equity. In Handbook for Achieving Gender Equity through Education. Sue Klein, ed. Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers, 2007.